


The ice scuplture and the never-aging man

by Gaia_bing



Category: Spartacus Series (TV), Spartacus: Vengeance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Greek and Roman Mythology - Freeform, Immortality, M/M, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-06 18:19:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1110066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaia_bing/pseuds/Gaia_bing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Nasir looked like any 20 year-old that you'd see on any given street or any college campus, he was in fact hiding a secret that was at once a blessing but also a curse.</p><p>Because you see, Nasir wasn't actually in his twenties, he was more in his two thousands... </p><p>A slash story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The ice scuplture and the never-aging man

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, this is what happened after watching "Frozen" and mixing some Merlin fanfic stuff I've read into the mix. Hope you like. :)

"Are you sure you're going to need all these books, sir?" the nice-looking lady in front of him said as Nasir was checking out of the small library he had just spent hours in, searching for books on Ancient Roman Mythology.  
  
"Yeah, it's-it's for a research paper I'm doing for school and I really need all the info that I can get on the subject. And don't worry, I'm going to read them all." Nasir replied with a small smile as his last book was checked out and he put it in his trusty leather backpack.  
  
"All of them?! When exactly is your paper due? You'll never have the time to read them all!" exclaimed the lady as he was about to leave.  
  
Taking one last look at the woman, Nasir simply shrugged and replied with an enigmatic tone in his voice: "Don't worry about that, I have all the time in the world."  
  
And that was true. While Nasir looked like any 20 year-old that you'd see on any given street or any college campus, he was in fact hiding a secret that was at once a blessing but also a curse.  
  
Because you see, Nasir wasn't actually in his twenties, he was more in his two thousands...  
  
And he didn't have one single grey hair to show for it.  
  
He had survived the Gladiators and Slaves Revolution, the eventual fall of the Roman Empire (which had been one of the greatest days of his long-long-long life), the Medieval Times, the discovery of America, the Renaissance, the invention of electricity and printing, all of the World Wars and here he was now, living somewhere in America after moving there over 200 years ago, but always under a different last name, always under a new identity.

Nasir always moved, never stayed, was always searching for the answer to the one question that had been haunting him ever since he had first woken up all those centuries ago...  
  
 _Why wasn't he dead by now?_  
  
Because with Nasir never having the chance of aging, he also never had the chance to die...literarily. Every time he had hurt himself, no matter how small or how big his injury really was, it would always heal by itself and Nasir would always end up back on his feet, shaking the dust off his clothes and continuing on his merry way, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened a couple of minutes earlier.  
  
And when Nasir discovered that he was literarily immortal, that's when the questions began to swirl inside his head: _Why? What the hell was he? What was going on? Was he always like this?_  
  
He didn't remember being like this when he was young. He remembered hurting himself time and time again when he was a child and those wounds never did close themselves almost immediately. They usually would take hours, or sometimes even days to heal themselves, just like it happened to every other human beings that lived on this Earth.

And he remembered one particular injury, at the prime of his life, that had been the worst of them all: a large, gaping wound across his stomach, that had lost a lot of blood and he was sure he had heard someone whisper at the time that he was going to lose his life because of it.

But then, one morning, he'd just woken up like nothing had ever happened to him, his deep wound caused by a Roman sword now a simple scar on his body and everybody looking at him funny. And whenever he'd asked anyone what exactly had happened to him, all of the former slaves and gladiators would simply shrug and go on their merry way, saying they knew just as much as he did.  
  
And when the final battle against Crassus happened and Spartacus had unfortunately lost his life, that's when Nasir had first noticed it for himself: all of his wounds from the fight, all fresh and bloody just a couple of hours earlier, now closed up and scarred like they'd been on his body for years on end. And that's when he tried it on himself, when they were safe in the mountains, he had taken a sharp rock and had pierced the skin of his thigh with it. And to his utter stupefaction, the small cut automatically closed on itself almost the minute it had been opened.  
  
 _What was this sorcery?_ he had asked himself time and time again as he tried to injure himself time and time again and just like with that small cut, he always ended up fine, never a broken bone in his body, never a bloody trail wherever he went.  
  
At first he took it as he blessing. He was immortal, he couldn't die, he could do whatever he wanted. And so he did. Jumped from the highest mountains, swam across an entire lake and back without feeling tired once, could go on for days without eating or even drinking...  
  
At that time he truly felt invincible, because he really was.  
  
But, as the years went by, he also realized that he was becoming lonely. After settling in the mountains with the survivors of the revolution, he found himself watching all the people around him begin to wither and die, and himself not age by a single day. And when the last survivor, some seventy years later, finally died of old age, that was when Nasir found himself truly alone for the first time in his entire life, with no one to talk to and nowhere to go.  
  
And that was when he began to travel.  
  
He walked and walked and walked and walked. Visited as many countries and as many cities as he could, learned all about their customs and their people and when he'd had enough, he would simply pack all his stuff and just move on. And that's what he did, all the time, because he had all the time of the world to do it and he was also all alone, with no responsibilities to leave behind and no attachment to anywhere in particular.  
  
And when he discovered books, that was when he began to read.  
  
Reading had became his thing: he read about civilizations old and new, learned many, many languages, including the new English, his old Syrian and for some reason, had found a particular interest when it came to the German one, where he'd spent many hours trying to get each word just right. Why exactly? Even he didn't know.  
  
And so, with reading came knowledge, and with knowledge came...all of those old questions on the back of his mind.  
  
Why was he like this? Had there been others just like him? Was he actually going to die someday? Or was he cursed to see the end of the world without aging one second more?  
  
He found some answers in the books that he read, but not very encouraging ones. No, there had never been any records of anybody living as old as he'd been living and even less looking as young as he was. For a moment or two, after reading a vampire novel, he'd believed that he may had been bitten by a vampire all those years ago, but a quick excursion in the sunlight and the non-bursting into flames that ensued had quickly changed his mind about that.  
  
And that's how he'd been living for the past 2000 years, like a nomad and always rushing out like the wind wherever he went, never standing still so that no one would ask questions about who or what exactly he really was. And that's how he'd found himself, in the middle of the year 2013, somewhere in America, renting books on Ancient Roman Mythology, just for kicks this time around, having nothing else to do and wanting to rediscover a part of himself he'd long put past behind him.  
  
As he sat down on his small bed in the hotel room he had rented for the night, Nasir picked up a book at random from his backpack and checked out its front cover. On it was the picture of a beautiful woman, all dressed in white, sitting on what looked like to be a throne entirely made of ice, itself in the middle of what seemed like to be an entire palace made of ice. He read the title:  
  
 _Khione, the Goddess of the Snow_  
  
He flicked the book to its first page and began to read out loud:  
  
"Khione, the Roman Goddess of the Snow, was the daughter of Aquilo, the god of the North Wind. She was a nymph... who..."  
  
Suddenly, a feeling of tiredness took over Nasir's entire body and, setting the book down on a nearby nightstand, the long-haired man decided to call it a night. Shutting the lamp off, he laid his head on his pillow and shut himself off from the entire world.  
  
 ***********  
  
 _Please, gods, please! Do not set a path for him to the Elysian Fields just yet. He is of such young age, he has so much to do, so much to see. Do not free him of his human life just yet...Take me instead, I implore you, please, do what you must and save him._  
  
 **You would trade your life for his, young gladiator?**  
  
 _Yes, I would...I...I love him._  
  
 **You love this boy?**  
  
 _With all of my heart._  
  
 **Very well. We will exchange his life for yours. You will suffer in silence for all of eternity, while he will go on living the life that he shouldn't be living. Are you sure of this sacrifice, young Agron?**  
  
 _Yes, I am sure. Take me, now._  
  
 **Hmm, you will look quite good in my daughter's palace...**  
  
"At the top of the world, you will find your answers..."  
  
Nasir woke up in a start and realized that he'd just slept the whole night through. His dream came back to his mind. Who were all theses voices? Who was this Agron-person? And why did someone whisper to him to go to the top of the world to get his answers?  
  
Getting himself out of bed and stretching his tired limbs, a look of determination settled itself on Nasir's face as he quickly packed up his stuff and made his way out of his hotel room.  
  
One thing was for sure, he had now somewhere he needed to go.  
  
 ************  
  
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the charter plane pilot asked as they landed in the middle of a snow storm, in the middle of the North Pole.  
  
Nasir simply smiled as he settled his snow goggles around his eyes and replied: "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I've been through much worse than this, believe me." and with a small wave, he was gone, leaving behind a baffled-looking man.  
  
Nasir walked and walked and walked for days on end, with nothing but white snow everywhere he looked and answers to all of his questions nowhere to be seen. And as Nasir settled camp exactly one week after beginning his long trek, he began to question his true desire to be here, his sanity to follow a feminine voice inside his head and his will to truly find what he was looking for. Because, as he closed his eyes and fell asleep, he asked himself: what exactly was he looking for anyway?  
  
 _Nasir! Nasir! Wake up, Nasir!_  
  
It was that voice, that same whispery, feminine voice he'd heard a week beforehand in his dream and as he opened his eyes, Nasir finally saw its source.  
  
It was Khione, the Goddess of the Snow, the one he had read about in his book on Roman Mythology. She was here, in front of him, in the flesh and as Nasir sat up and looked around, he also realized that he was now in her icy palace, just like on the cover of the book.  
  
Smiling fondly at the man before her, the Goddess spoke in her ethereal voice: "I am guessing you are wondering what is going on and why are you here?"  
  
Nasir couldn't do anything else but quickly nod, too scared but also too in awe at everything that was happening all around him.  
  
"You are here...to be reunited...with **him**..." Khione continued, her smile growing.  
  
"What are you talking about? Who's **him**?" Nasir asked the Goddess as he stood up and wiped the residual snow off his clothes.  
  
Khione simply smiled and pointed at a large, blue door. "Why don't you go see for yourself?" she said and with that, the Goddess of the Snow disappeared right before Nasir's eyes.  
  
Glancing at the large door in front of him, Nasir shrugged his shoulders at himself and thought: _"What the hell, as they say, when in Rome..."_ and he slowly opened the golden knob when he finally reached the other room.  
  
Opening the door and stepping inside, Nasir's jaw became slacked at the beauty standing in front of him.  
  
It was like nothing he had ever seen before: an ice sculpture, so finely-cut and so life-like, it was like the man it represented was standing, alive, right in front of him. And what a man he was: short hair, muscled arms, leather and chains seemingly adorning his body, he was everything Nasir had ever pictured his dream man to be and here he was...represented in ice...and not real...  
  
Nasir's hopes were quickly dashed when reality suddenly crashed into him. He sighed, lecturing himself for thinking for just a moment that this ice sculpture was in fact a real man. Nasir turned his heel around and was about to walk out of the room when suddenly...  
  
 _N-Nasir..._  
  
A male voice, the most desirable, most beautiful voice Nasir had ever had the blessing to hear, made its way to Nasir's ear and made the long-haired man whip his head around. Who'd said that? Where did that voice come from?  
  
"H-hello?" he tried calling out. "Who's there? Where are you?"  
  
 _Nasir..._ the male voice whispered again and this time, Nasir found its source. It seemed to be coming from...the ice scuplture?!  
  
Approaching it with careful steps, Nasir tried to talk to it, despite how crazy he looked by doing so: "H-hello? Ice sculpture? Can you talk?"  
  
 _I've waited so long for you..._  
  
"What? How do you know me? And why have you been waiting for me?" Nasir said as he found himself about a feet away from the icy figure.  
  
 _Remember...please, you have to remember..._  
  
"Remember..." was all Nasir said as he stepped on the icy pedestal, in an almost hypnotic trance and as his hand reached out and touched the cold surface of the ice sculpture, images began to flash in his mind....  
  
Agron, the most beautiful man he'd ever had the chance to meet. Nasir had fallen for him almost the minute his eyes had first set on the giant of a man. And the way the other man was looking at him whenever he made his way through the rebels' camp, he had a suspicion the other man harbored feelings for him too. He would tell him soon, he would...but....  
  
They'd been separated before he had any chance to tell the taller man anything. He had rescued Naevia from the mines and on the way back, they'd been attacked by Roman soldiers and he'd been... stabbed...  
  
He remembered bleeding...he was in so much pain, he thought he was going to die...but then...  
  
Agron had implored the Gods to take his life instead of Nasir's and the Gods, more particularly Aquilo, had granted him his wish, healing Nasir's gaping stomach wound while also taking the gladiator with him and at the same time, erasing the memory of his existence from history, from the mind of his friends and family and also, from the mind of Nasir...  
  
And now that he remembered who Agron really was, all of Nasir's old feelings came rushing back like a waterfall splashing right at the top of his head. "Oh, Agron." Nasir whispered to the sculpture, in awe that this man sacrificed himself so that the young freed slave could live a few years more. If he'd only known...  
  
At that moment, Nasir couldn't help himself. He leaned in, put his lips against the icy structure that represented Agron's mouth and closed his eyes.  
  
He heard a loud gasp in the silent air and opening his eyes, Nasir's whole face crumpled up when he realized that the ice sculpture that he'd been standing in front of this entire time was now a real, in the flesh and most of all, warm and alive, human being. He took a few steps back and brought a hand to his mouth in emotion. It was Agron, his Agron, he was finally free.  
  
The taller man blinked, looked around the room and his whole being seemed to light up when he noticed the long-haired man staring at him with shining eyes. "Nasir?" Agron whispered in wonder and was about to move toward the other man, when Nasir took the final steps and launched himself onto the taller man's body, making Agron laugh out loud and spin the smaller man in his arms around and around until they were both too dizzy to do so.  
  
"Agron! Oh my Agron! My deepest apologies! It is my fault you were trapped in here for so long." Nasir implored the man he loved, his old language suddenly coming back to him, but Agron shushed him with a finger on his lips and a bright smile as he replied:  
  
"Do not ever apologize for what happened to me. I did all of this with acceptance in my heart. I would have rather stayed in this entrapment for all of eternity than to see you go before your time."  
  
"But I have been stuck here, all this time, without you by my side! How could I live so long without you and not lose mind?" Nasir asked the taller man and Agron shrugged his shoulders and replied:  
  
"I guess this is why your memories of me along with the others' were taken by the gods, so that none of you would suffer in my absence."  
  
"And the reason I have been living without aging, without dying..." Nasir whispered in realization.  
  
"...Was because Khione took pity and wanted to see us reunited someday, both at same moment: one going on for eternity without memories and the other going on for eternity without moving." finished Agron with a smile, tightening his arms around the smaller man.  
  
"But I think there is another reason, one above them all..." Nasir whispered as he reached out and caressed Agron's stubbled cheek with his fingers.  
  
"And that reason would be?" asked Agron with a tender look in his eyes.  
  
"So that all of the world would be mine to see and know, without guilt and without restrictions, before I could come back to you and finally say: I love you, my sweet, dear Agron." replied Nasir, slowly leaning his face toward Agron's once more.  
  
Agron smiled at Nasir's admission and lovingly whispered back: "And I love you, my sweet, dear Nasir." and as their lips touched, for real this time, a blinding white light engulfed them both and the reunited lovers disappeared into the night, to go where all of their friends and all of their families had gone when they themselves had left this world, leaving behind a broken ice sculpture along with a pile of winter clothes covered in bone dust.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a review or a kudos and tell me what you thought of this. Thank you. :)
> 
> PS, to anyone confused by the end: Nasir's body aged itself and turned to dust the moment he kissed the ice sculpture, and both men were finally reunited: one free from his eternal icy entrapment and the other free from his immortal, never-changing body.


End file.
